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Silver City. A husk of it's former self, it stood as a sign of change. But perhaps the change it brought was not the kind this world needed. Sovereign approached the city, somehow he was the first of the Silver Tribe's forces to arrive. Exactly as he wanted. He knew that Auron had ways of knowing, beyond the normal Pokemon. He wondered if he was aware of Sovereign's presence, or Sovereign's new decision?

The guards at the gate didn't stop him. Perhaps Auron didn't know. The city seemed so dead. Nobody bothered to go outside if they didn't have a good reason. The only real life was the ancients, and they really didn't count for much. Gold City had been captured well before he was recruited, and yet he couldn't help feeling responsible for it's current state.

Sovereign eventually made his way to the throne room. He stood staring at the door for a good half hour before he finally opened them and walked inside.

The once shining hall of the Citadel of Gold City had been converted into the throne room of the ruler and conqueror of Valkaria. Once, this place was occupied by the leadership of the Alpha Alliance, and under constant watch by the most well-trained of the Gold Tribe. It was once a place of hope and prosperity. Of happiness and cheer. Now, it was the beacon of war from which all the chaos of the country had originated. Alone in the darkness of the throne room, a single Pokemon sat upon a throne. There were no guards. No advisors, servants, tacticians, or emissaries. There was only a lone Haxorus, what the Alpha Alliance has come to know as the face and embodiment of terror and supremacy. There was only Auron, Lord of the Sentinels, and Commander of the Ancients.

Auron sat upon the throne, which was elevated a few feet from the ground by a set of stairs. His face and upper body was covered by the shadows of the dark room, but his eyes immediately glared at Sovereign as he entered his domain.

"...Crusher..." His voice was cold and seemingly...distant. It was as if when he spoke, he was there, but he wasn't 'there'. He seemed to boom and echo his deep, dark voice like thunder across the room, and yet it didn't appear as if he even tried.

Despite his fearsome nature, the voice seemed to chill Sovereign to his core. Had he always been like this? Was there something to Auron he couldn't see before? Was he so blinded by darkness that he couldn't see Auron for what he truly was...?

Sovereign approached the throne cautiously, uncertain of what Auron would do. "Lord Auron..." A moment of hesitaion gripped Sovereign as he attempted to speak. The realization that this encounter could very well result in his death gripped him. But then he remembered Vera, whom he had dragged into all this mess, whom he owed so much, and knew he had to do this. "Auron! I have served you loyally for a long time now. I swore allegiance to your cause. I swore on my dragon blood to be your weapon. But now that must end. I have a duty I must uphold. I must return to my home."

Sovereign's stomach was filled with lead as he stared the dragon down. He already knew what Auron would do, but he latched on to that hope that perhaps, just maybe, he would let Sovereign leave.

Silence followed the Tyranitar's words. For almost a minute, there was no response. Auron merely gazed at Sovereign from his throne, or at least gazed into his direction. It seemed that the Haxorus almost seemed to look beyond the Tyranitar, as if he observed something unseeable, something only he saw. Then, after what seemed like an eternity of silence, the great Haxorus spoke again. "...You will...continue your duty...until that duty is complete...and that is my final word."

"I swore to my father," Sovereign spoke boldly, never breaking eye contact with Auron, "that I would protect Draco Temple! I have failed him until this point, but now I know what I have to do." He no longer had any doubts in his mind. He accepted that this was his punishment for failing in his duty. "If you won't let me leave, then you'll have to kill me! But I won't die without putting up one hell of a fight!"

"Crusher...You will continue your duty..." Auron began again. A strange rumbling sound began to echo across the dark chambers. Slowly, the Haxorus pushed himself off of the throne by his claws. As he stood up, he towered over his subordinate thanks to the elevated platform of the throne. He looked below at him with intimidating eyes. "...or this throne room...will also be your tomb." Even if he didn't say so, this would be the final warning that Sovereign would get from Auron.

Auron clearly didn't want to lose Sovereign. Any other time, it was doubtful that so many warnings would be given. Was he desperate? Perhaps the Sentinel's numbers were becoming fewer than he knew. Sovereign had not checked in with his comrades when he left. Who knew just how many they lost. "I will not be your slave!" As Auron towered over him, Sovereign could finally see it. He was no Dragon, not any more. This was something else...

Auron didn't say anything else. He merely descending from the throne. Each thunderous step sent an echo through the chamber, and with each step, it seemed his auro and ferocity increased. He was a monster even among the Sentinels, and now he would prove why. He stopped at the final step down the throne, and moved his head back, and opened his mouth. At the opening of his mouth, pure energy began to form, gathering from within his body and the surrounding atmosphere. It poured around until it formed into a ball of white energy, a Hyper Beam, only enormous in size compared to that of a normal Hyper Beam. All at once, Auron released this energy into a beam at Sovereign. The true viciousness of the blast was revealed as it was launched, with every passing column and piece of rock and statues which it even grazed turned to dust from the pure power which was contained inside of it. The Hyper Beam expanded to a meter wide, now reaching the floor below, and disintegrating the very ground as it seered through the air at its target.

The massive beam came barreling towards Sovereign. It was unlike anything he had seen before, such power, such unfathomable power! He barely managed to snap out of his aw in time to narrowly get out of the way. He could feel the burn, even without taking a direct hit. This power was unnatural.

Sovereign knew that he would have little time before Auron was able to attack again. He planted his feet, and lunged forward, charging the beast head first. Streaks of dark energy ran from his teeth as he prepared to Crunch into the mighty beast. Sovereign was never good at taking the cautious route, and he certainly wasn't about to begin now. Besides, there was no where to run anyway.

There was no flinching from Auron. He stood his ground, perhaps partly to recover from the effects of delivering such a powerful Hyper Beam, and the necessity to recharge. But it was also because Auron had long forgotten the meaning of fear. The Tyranitar's teeth would normally bury deep into any foe that met him, but Auron's dense armor caused the teeth to only pentrate a fraction of the dense skin. Still it was enough to draw blood, which dripped from the shoulder of the mighty Haxorus. But he did not falter. Instead, the Lord of the Silver Tribe grabbed hold of the back of Sovereign's had, holding him in place, while he brought his other arm up above him. The ferocity of the strike could have probably been felt by the air before it was even delivered as a strike. He glared with his dispassionate eyes deeply into the eyes of his opponent, and spoke to him in his deep, yet somehow booming voice. "You are....my servant....you are still...the Crusher..." He said, as he brought his mighty Dragon Claw upon Sovereign, intent on slashing apart his back.

Auron dug into Sovereign's hide, hard rock-like chips falling to the ground covered in blood. Feeling his armor get peeled away so easily was painful, but he had felt worse. Sand exploded from the opening, projecting Sovereign away from his opponent as it began to swirl about the room, whittling away at the old statues and architecture.

"I serve no one but myself!" Sovereign smashed his hand into one of the statues, generating a pile of sharp rocks. Sovereign began hurling Stone Edges at Auron, determined for a way to make him falter in some way. He was desperate not to have to use Outrage if he could avoid it, uncertain of how he would react now.

Auron rose his claws and covered his body as the statues made into projectiles broke upon impact with the mighty Haxorus. They pushed him back a few inches with each impact, but the Stone Edges did not pierce deep enough to bring him down. He lowered his arms, which had a few scratches and blood upon them, and prepared for the counterattack. He crouched, bending his knees, and then pounced at his opponent with vigor and speed, attempting to crash right into the beast with a Giga Impact which would have torn through the walls of the thick throne room as if they were tissue paper.

Before observing how the extent of his damage affect the Tyranitar, Auron already went on another offensive, this time determined to destroy Sovereign completely. At a closer range now, Auron opened his mouth and powered up for another Hyper Beam, the white-hot energy gathering at his mouth, and then in a rapid fashion, released and seered through the air, burning and disintegrating all in its path as if targeted the Crusher, intent on finishing him off.

Demonstrating the very features that Sovereign lacked, Auron hit him at high speeds. Though the impact was of little concern for a Pokemon of Rock, it was still an incredible force which knocked Sovereign to the ground. As he rose to his knees, panting, he could see Auron charging up for another Beam. Perfect. Sovereign did not try to move, instead taking the blast entirely. As more of his armor chipped away, his body became cloaked in a dark shadow, swirling off his body. This was perhaps the most powerful Payback any Pokemon had ever generated. If nothing in his arsenal would pierce him, then maybe hiting him with his own force would work!

Light shone between Sovereign's teeth, as he prepared for his attack. He was not used to handling this much energy at once, but he only had one shot. If he waited too long though, it would tear him apart from the inside. Sovereign tilted his head back, only for a moment, before swinging it forward again, unleashing a vortex of bright light and black darkness towards Auron.

If Auron was still capable of becoming surprised, then surely the resulting energy sent towards him had caught him by just that. Sweeping him off his feet, the mighty Dragon collided with the far side of the throne room, with bits of the wall collapsing on top of the area of impact. For a moment, the power blast seemed to have the desired affect. It took a while before any movement seemed to be registering. But sure enough, the rubble began to stir, and the form of Auron appeared of from underneath. If anger too could anymore be registered by the beast, he was flirting with it.

Sovereign fell to the ground. He had given everything to that attack, and he wasn't sure he could keep on like this.

Auron rose his body from under the broken pieces of the wall, and eyed the Tyranitar. Dark energy began seeping around Auron's body. It seemed to pour from within his body, a nameless source of power, and spread across, until it engulfed the entirety of his form. His eyes changed to a pure black, and his density seemed to increase, as each massive step he took further shook the palace. "Your efforts...everything you work for...is futile." He stepped forward once more, and came to a thunderous halt. "You could have survived....as the Crusher...now you must die...as nothing...." The rumbling from around Auron expanded across the palace, as an unseen energy seemed to envelope the place. It fueled the Lord of the Sentinels, making him appear even mightier.

As he began his attack, the darkness combined with it now, releasing a Dragon Pulse with an augmented color.

Sovereign's heart sank as Auron stood from the rubble. He heard that name again. That silly title. The Crusher. He had hated it ever since he was forced to take it on. The stories people told were of the Crusher. Auron thought it a fitting title to fill the role of people's nightmares. Sovereign had nodded and accepted his role. But he always hated that name.

A pair of black wings protected Sovereign out of nowhere, blocking the Dragon pulse. "My name..." Sovereign rose from the ground, and as the wings spread themselves, his Outrage was in clear effect. Deep purple contrasted by shining yellow eyes, Sovereign did not emanate black energy like he had in the past, or quake the earth. He was in control of his power for the first time in his entire life. "...is Sovereign Chronos! Keeper of Lost knowledge!"

One final gambit. That was all he had left. This power would keep him going just long enough to pull it off. Sovereign lifted his left foot just a few inches from the ground, and stomped it into the ancient floor of the throne room, causing a few hairline cracks. "Do you know the difference between a dragon..." the room began to tremor in reaction to Sovereign's influence. "...and a monster?

"Both are incredibly powerful entities. But dragons strive to improve themselves through hard work, and value their honor. Monsters though..." Sovereign stared into his right palm for a moment. "...monsters would give anything for more power. Even their own soul." He looked at Auron with a grin on his face, almost like Varren's. "I'm just a monster who deserves to die. But in my final moments, I will be a dragon, in order to destroy an even greater monster." The Throne Room, now violently shaking in Sovereign's wake, began to crumble, chunks of the cieling falling around them. "This will be your grave, Auron!"

Before he knew what was happening, Auron's muzzle was being held shut by an arm from behind him. Another arm wrapped itself around his neck, and pulling his head back. "No more Hyper Beams." He had to keep Auron here as long as he could. "I'll bring this whole building down on us if that's what it takes, but we will both die here, Auron!"

The arms held their grip tight around the Lord of the Sentinels. For the first time in a long time, it had appeared that Auron was powerless to break hold of them. As the signs and rumbles of the throne room began to increase, it became apparent that the area would soon collapse, with the two of them still inside. In a last effort to escape, Auron tried to let out a mighty roared and attempted a final dash away from the beast and towards the exit, to let the Tyranitar die alone in the dark crypt.

Sovereign, unwilling to let Auron go so easily, split his wings into the 6 tendrils Varren used to use. They interlaced with each other as they wrapped themselves several times around the two combatants. As they sqeezed down, keeping Auron where he stood, Sovereign spoke once more. "I'm not afraid any more, Auron." Images of Sovereign's father and the ghost of Varren appeared to him one more time. "They are not my enemy, for they are me."

Auron was unable to escape, though he continued to struggle. All around the two, the throne room shook uncontrollably. The pillars holding the ceiling up were withering away and the roof above had begun to fall in large pieces all around them. And then, the Lord of the Sentinels stopped struggled abruptly, as if accepting his fate. He looked with his cold eyes from the ceiling, to the monster in front of him. As he did so, his eyes slowly morphed in color from red irises and black pupils to a darker, gray shade. They were dull, yet somehow managed to give off a faint shine.

The ceiling of the throne room abruptly collapsed on top of the two combatants, leaving an area of smoke, dirt, and broken rubble as a testament to their colossal battle.

The darkness instantly vanished, and Allora found firm ground beneath her feet. Large buildings and houses materialized before her, and she knew she was entering another memory. Pokemon began appearing too, or at least, apparitions of Pokemon. When it finally finished materializing, Allora instantly recognized the place as Gold City, pre-war. The place was bustling with activity, Pokemon of all shapes and sizes talking, laughing, trading, and generally enjoying their day. It was a sight that the Ninetales had not seen in a long time. However, she noticed that some of the buildings in sight, at least from what she remembered, had been demolished prior to the war. This meant that this memory must have been very early in Paladin's life, since those buildings had been demolished at least 30 years ago. Her suspicions were confirmed when she gazed into a nearby alleyway, and saw a young Golett talking with a Luxray. She instantly recognized the Golett as a young Paladin, but she didn't know the Luxray. However, she noticed a Gold Tribe emblem on his shoulder. Could this be the moment Paladin gets recruited into the Gold Tribe? Allora thought, as she watched the two Pokemon walk off down the alleyway, Paladin apparently confused.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" The evil voice sounded from behind her. Allora spun around in surprise, to find... something. What had once been a shadowy Golurk was now deformed and just... wrong. The deformed thing had six arms, three on each side, a chest that was cracked wide open, and large, round glaring eyes that glowed red. It had no legs, and in their place, wisps of dark smoke lashed around, apparently keeping the thing afloat.

"From what I can tell, this is a turning point in his life," Chaos continued, never taking its eyes off of Allora. She could practically feel its stare burning into her body lake lasers. "Let's change that, shall we?"

Then, a rewind. The creature held up one of its arms, and suddenly time began rewinding in the memory. Only Chaos and Allora were unaffected. When it started moving normally again, they were at the point where the Luxray had just began approaching Paladin. Then, suddenly, Chaos held up another arm, and from it, the monster shot a dark orb, which hit the Luxray and disintegrated him instantly. Paladin didn't even seem to notice.

"What the hell did you do?!" Allora shouted at Chaos.

"Simply edited around his memory a bit," Chaos replied.

Allora realized that it was this sort of tampering that the monster had been doing that was blotting out Paladin's earlier memories. This was no amnesia, it was simply Chaos residing within him, slowly taking him over.

"You are right, Allora," Chaos said, probably reading her mind, "and as I continue to take him over, more and more of his precious memories will disappear. They may have been reappearing before, but that was only something I allowed the poor bastard. To mess with him, you know?"

Allora suddenly became infuriated. She quickly launched a Heat Wave, which bounced right off the monster. "Playing rough already, eh? But I wasn't finished with my monologue yet," it snickered. Allora lunged at it, grabbing at its back, and climbing on top of it while it did nothing to stop her. Once again, she attempted to use Confuse Ray, but the attack had no effect. She had no idea what to do at that moment.

Suddenly, she felt s jolt of pain in her right side. Chaos had hit her with one of its massive arms. The impact had sent her flying a few feet away from it, and, to her surprise, found that the impact had left several bruises and cuts on her side. That was impossible though, because this form was only a manifestation of brain power. Unless...

"Yes, now you're getting it," Chaos rasped, floating closer to her. "I'm damaging your mind. I think, if I hit it in the right place, you might become retarded!" And then it laughed. A maniacal laugh that sounded distorted and garbled.

Allora said nothing. She simply got up backed away from the approaching monster, trying desperately to formulate a plan. If Chaos was ten times stronger than before, then nothing she could physically do would affect it.

Wait, she thought, the buildings!

If she was right, then the buildings here in Gold City that were currently demolished in present time would be crumbling in the memory. Therefore, it should be relatively easy to topple one. She just needed to get Chaos underneath one. There was one just a few blocks away from here, she remembered, that was already crumbling. So she ran, hoping Chaos would follow. Indeed he did, but he began picking up speed. Quickly. She doubted she could outrun it, so she began launching Heat Waves behind her to obscure its vision. It worked, as Chaos began slowing down ever so slightly. She continued to run, trying to blot out the pain from the previous attack, until finally, she saw the building.

It was an old, decrepit thing about four stories high that had no more inhabitants living in it. She quickly found a weak spot in its structure in the left and right sides of the front wall. Perfect. She launched a pair of Energy Balls at each weak point, which quickly caused the building to start falling forward, since it had no more support from the front walls. Still running in its direction, she allowed Chaos to be directly underneath it before jumping out of the way. Chaos followed quick her, all its attention fixed on her, so it did not see the massive building falling on top of it. Allora watched as its wicked form was overtaken by the falling debris, burying it under mounds of stone and concrete.

If only that was the end. Just when Allora thought she had finished Chaos off, it reemerged from the rubble, eyes red as ever and six arms balled into fists. In an instant, the thing was over her and launching Shadow Punches at her. She was only able to dodge a few, the rest of the punches swinging her around like she was nothing. Then, from the gaping hole in its chest, it launched what appeared to be some kind of dark Flamethrower. Although it should not have done any damage to a Fire type like her, it scorched her metaphysical form's white fur and left burns on her skin. Bruises, burns, and cuts everywhere, she felt like her mind was about to give out. To her surprise, though, it did not. She was unable to say anything at all, but it felt like something was keeping her here. Keeping her mind from giving out.

Paladin? She thought.

"No, me!" Came the reply from Chaos, followed by that maniacal laugh. "I'm keeping you here, idiot. I need you to see something."

And with that, the memory dissipated. There was only blackness, and in it resided Allora and the deformed Chaos.

As Vera would wake up she would notice that she was in a rather open area. It wasn't wooden or made of bricks, instead the area was purely made out of rocks and dirt... it seemed she was in another tunnel underneath Cape City. There weren't many Affiliates running around at the moment, just those setting up supplies here and there and those who were attending to her. There was a Chansey checking over her along with a Clefairy acting as a sort of aid.

Off to the side though she would be able to notice that there was a Aggron, just waiting to have an excuse to break her neck no doubt.

Vera certainly was not happy about her situation. In the hands of what she assumed were the Affiliates. She wasn't particularly fond of Aggron in general, they had worked with one before who belonged to the Sentinels and found the experience quite infuriating.

"I know you're not in charge. So why don't you go get him for me?" Vera spoke with a condescending tone.

The Chansey frowned down at her, "Relax. No need to get stressed. You're still a bit injured and I don't want you moving around too much! It could rip out the stitches."

Her Clefairy assistant nodded as the Aggron snorted at her, "Calm your ponytas fire princess. Penance has more important things to do today. He may come soon, or may come hours from now."

"If you knew who I was, you wouldn't be calling me princess," Vera snarled. "So his name is Penance? Isn't that the name of one of the Gold Tribe's soldiers?" It seemed that everything was finally piecing together in Vera's mind. The events in Cape City made little sense, but now it seemed as though an Affiliate had infiltrated the Gold Tribe.

Vera wasn't sure if these two were aware of Vera's position in the Silver Tribe, but if they did it sure wasn't obvious. "Aside from my obvious condition, why am I here? Surely there are better places to store a recovering patient than underground."

The Aggron shrugged, "You're down here because Penance said so, simple as that. Apparently you are wanted up top by a whooooole lot of people. Here you are safe, simple as that."

"I appreciate the concern," Vera scolded sarcastically, "but I can take care of myself." Vera was growing impatient, but the fact of the matter was, she wasn't going anywhere yet.

Suddenly a familiar Golduck walked on in. "Hm... what do we have here!?" He grinned brightly as he came on over and sat next to Vera. "A creature who's fire may have been snuffed out a bit too quickly? But that fire came back, it wasn't time yet of course." He said with a nod. "I suppose though you don't want to be down here eh?"

He grinned wide and glanced back and forth before leaning in to whipser softly, "You know, that Gallade has quite the crush on you. You should see how he acts when you aren't around." He gave a sly wink and leaned back, "But anyways you're free to go. There's a ladder outside. Go! Go to your prince dear princess!"

Vera was fed up by now. "Is that some kind of joke? Do I look like I'm in a state to moving yet?" This had to be him. Vera knew of a Golduck within the Gold Tribe and was certain she had seen him before at battles. "You're in charge here, aren't you? Where's Sovereign, why am I down here? ...Why did you save me?"

Penance let his head hang back as he laughed with a sort of mocking laughter, "You are so funny when you are confused!" He said gleefully. "Well if you don't want to leave I guess I'll have to leave some stuff here for ya. Hm.. bread good enough?" He asked. "Sovereign... hm... heard he ran away, doesn't want to come back here, and I saved ya because you are valuable."

Something certainly seemed off about the Golduck. Was he really in charge? "While I'm not overjoyed to be in the hands of an Affiliate, it's probably better than if the Gold Tribe had me, where I would be a war criminal." Vera adjusted herself so that she was sitting up, careful of her stitching.

At that Penance suddenly rached out, his hand gripping her throat hard and enough to... perhaps break it if he put some psychic power into it. "Ah... the goldies... you best be careful what you wish for." He hissed, his eyes glowing a bit purple. It lasted for close to a second before he let her go and his cheerful expression returned, "No matters! You'll stay here and be a good girl now! We just need to ask some questions is all." He leaned back "So, what has old Auron been cooking up eh?"

Vera gave Penance a cold stare as his hand wrapped around her neck. She wasn't afraid to die any more, but she certainly was regretting her current situation. Vera started laughing at Penance's question. "I'm flattered you think I'm important enough to know what Auron is planning, but I'm afraid I'll have to disappoint you. Auron's the sort that gives orders without telling his soldiers why they're doing what they're doing. And neither me nor Sovereign was ever connected by... whatever it is that changed the other Sentinels."

Penance cocked his head, listenging silently to her explanation. "Hm... that so huh?" He sighed, "I thought... you might at least know something." He gave an innocent shrug, "I mean, if that is all you can figure out. Then that's all you can figure out." He leaned in, "But one last thing." At that moment Penance formed a Water Pulse in his hand and flung it right at Vera. Instead of blasting apart the psychic hold he had on it kept it in tact as it completely formed around Vera's head, cutting off her air supply. Penance cocked his head, waiting patiently to see how she would react. Naturally her body would go into panic mode. He had seen many fire types, even goldy ones, fall into that instinctive need as their training would abandon them once they met with their greatest weakness.

Vera flinched as the Water Pulse appraoched her, but instead of hitting her, she found herself being smothered by it. She couldn't breath, or even think for that matter. As she struggled, her body did the only thing it could as it lit up with flames. She met eyes with Penance for only a moment before she exploded, unleashing a Blast Burn, filling the entire room and part of the hall with fire. Surely Penance would not need to worry, but the Aggron and Chansey were not so lucky.

Penance cocked an eyebrow, chuckling as the images of the Chansey and Aggron just dissapeared. In fact the entire room was disintergrated by the flames. He waited a while before releasing the Water Pulse and giggling, "You don't think I would allow anyone to be harmed... do you?" He cooed. There was now blackness around them and the Golduck frowned, "Hm... this won't work at all!"

He snapped his fingers and suddenly the two were in a dungeon setting, with steel straps keeping Vera pressed tightly against a stone slab. Penance was now wearing a pair of medical gloves and next to him was a tray full of medical tools. He picked up a scapel and examined it. "The nice thing about having psychics... they just know how to make the PERFECT images in the mind. All of that felt very real didn't it?" He smirked evilly down at her. "This is my world..." He set the scapel down and picked up a syringe filled with a dark red liquid. "Question is... can you quickly train your mind NOT to feel the pain? None of this will kill you, but if it feels real enough..." He pressed the syringe into her arm and pushed the fluid into her body. "You will feel pain." He giggled a bit. "Now if your mind isn't up to standards... that serum will act as truth serum in this world. We may not have it in the outside world, but it exists here. You'll feel such a need to tell the truth... in fact you won't be able to lie at all."

He patted her head with that same sick grin on his face, "Now we can have all the fun we want in here! Oh, by the way, the mind can work faster than the brain precieves. Three days in here... could be three minutes out there." He looked deep into her eyes, "All the time in the world... wouldn't you say?"

More mind games? Vera had only just gotten out of Sovereign's head and now was trapped in her own with this lunatic. "What ever pain you think you can inflict on me," Vera's eyes burned as she spoke, "none of it can compare to what I've been through. So try your worst, Affiliate."

Penance snickered at the comment, "Well... if that is your way of thinking... I guess this won't work on you." He pushed the tray away, "Maybe something else?" In an instant Vera suddenly found herself in a black room. There were no windows, no doors, just whatever light she could produce would only show black walls.

"Hm... how about a year in solitary? Make it a minute out here, I go and get a sandwich... and you stay in there and have fun dwelling in loneliness? Sound like fun!?"

Darkness. Always with the Darkness. "Do you even know what it means to be alone? Do you know what it's like to be shunned by your own parents? I've lived my whole life alone! If you think this will break me then you're wrong!" There was only silence. Vera sat there, stewing in her own thoughts. There was plenty of time to think now.

Vera did well the first couple of months. For a while it seemed a relief not to have to deal with the outside world. But the lack of sensory stimulation began to take a toll on her. She began seeing things that weren't there. Most common was Sovereign, but on occassion she fell into nightmares of Varren's wicked grin looking down on her.

As the year came to it's close, she fell into something different. She opened her eyes, being unable to sleep, finding herself in a home of exquisite taste. On the wall in front of her was a blazing crest, the symbol of the Fayos lineage. "No... not here... anywhere but here..."

"And where is here?" Penance asked. He was leaning against a wall, looking right at her, "What is it that scares you Vera? What do you have left to fear?" He got off the wall, "You survived the box... most can't come out of it sane, many don't have the intelligence left to speak." He nodded, "You're strong... very strong. It's a wonder the crystal didn't want to assimilate you as well." He began to slowly walk around the room. "Whatever is here... you can fight." He nodded at her, "Either... you can lead on, or you can run and hide in that box, forever trying to escape what is here."

Before Vera could reply, a commotion could be heard from the room on the right side of the hall. The sound of a dish crashing, yelling and screaming. Vera walked to the door, and opened it, revealing a scene from her childhood. A dining room, just as luxurious as the hall. Two Blaziken, each wearing Gold Tribe pendants, a pair of Combusken, and a single, pale Torchic sat at the table. The Torchic was trying to pick up her mess while her father chastised her. "You're can 't do anything right, can you?! You couldn't even be born right! Your feathers don't make you special, you're nothing but a short freak who'll never amount to anything!"

Vera knew this day. "This was the day I ran from home." Suddenly, with the crack of thunder, the room went dark. It was empty, with only Vera standing in the doorway now.

Penance silently watched. "And you still dwell on it..." He murmured softly. "Do you think it's time to confront that fear now?"

Vera turned, and pointed to a door behind Penance. A Combusken, similar to the Torchic earlier in that it was small, and had pale feathers, much like Vera now, stepped through, it's recent evolution giving it confidence. Gripped in her hand was a small, dark blue pouch. Vera wrapped her hands around the very same pouch around her neck as the younger Vera swiftly grabbed a small, oddly shaped rock on a table just below the crest, and shoved it into the pouch.

With another crack of thunder, they were outside in the pouring rain. "It's not fear that brings me here, Penance... It's regret."

He nodded slowly. "Ah... regret. You know, I have met many who have regretted a part of their life..." He smirked a bit. "Regret is not easy to forget you know. I know one big one... you've met him... I think. Hm... maybe you haven't but the others have. It's because of him... the day I met him I realized why this day would come. Not specifically THIS part, but what is happening out there. He helped me see just how disastrous our world was becoming.

He chuckled softly, "Vera... if you knew of one pokemon... just one who had his whole life change simply because... he was taught to kill... what would you think about that? Is it right to teach young ones to kill simply for the sake of killing?"

Vera pondered the question before her younger self came running down the rain drenched path. She bumped into a Dusclops standing walking the opposite direction. She looked at her for only a moment before she ran around him and kept going. "I don't know of such things. What I do know, is that on the night I left home, this Pokemon massacred my family."

She stared Penance dead in the eye as the scenery shifted one more time to the interior of a cave. The young Vera was crying, soaked from the rain. "Do you know what my greatest regret is?"

"An educated mon would say your regret is that you couldn't save them, that deep down despite the anger shown earlier... that you still loved them, and wanted to save them. That your regret is that you can't have them here with you today." He closed his eyes, "But... the wise man would know that is not the case. A regret is built by many things. It's built by circumstance, by key individuals, by thinking the wrong thoughts or what one percieves as the wrong thoughts at the wrong time. It is not just one thing despite how much you may proclaim it is... deep down you would know this as well. I know I do. My greatest regret is actually many regrets that form into one single idea. If we held onto every regret, we would not be able to survive in this world. Holding onto that much regret will cause even the strongest of minds to shatter. That is why common minds percieve a regret with only one sentence in mind. I should have stood in front of him, I should have not yelled at her before she left... such regrets help us to hide the other things we did wrong... because our minds do the best they can to protect our fragile spirits."

He shook his head as the water slowly dripped off of him, "You know.... the Goldies should have died a long time ago."

Thunder streaked once more across the sky.

"Do you know why? If such a event had happened... then this event would have never happened... then something so simple as... as letting young ones die in the wilderness... away from family and friends would never have happened... that we would have become stronger without protectors we would have depended on for countless decades." He chuckled softly, "If only... I had been stronger."

"I used to think my greatest regret was that I was denied the satisfaction of proving them wrong." Vera stared at her younger self, crying because no one cared enough to come looking for her. It wasn't til years later she found out why no one looked for her. "But now I see... my greatest regret is that I didn't stay, and die with the others." Vera's memory faded from view, leaving only her and Penance. "So many times I have been ready to die. And yet she never lets me rest. Perhaps there is something more I need to do, but I just want to sleep..."

Penance glanced around the dark room. "You know... there's a funny thing about that." He began to walk with rocks and a cliff appearing out before him. He stopped right at the edge. "The only monsters... are us. Murderers... war bringers... even those seeking peace though the last means they have. We are the real beasts. So far from humanity we have fallen... so far that we are no longer capable of feeling compassion or guilt. Those are the ones we should really fear. But whether they are lurking in the woods... or in the cities... or even in the darkness of our hearts it's all irrelevant. You can't predict what happens and you can't stop it from happening. There is only one way." He looked up at the night sky that appeared.

"You find yourself becoming them. You become a beast yourself... and you show no mercy... just like them. Because... they are a virus. A virus that infects all who so much as look at them. At first you don't realize that you have become infected, you think that you are doing the world a service, but as time passes you realize how much of your mind you have lost... how... 'mad' you have become. There is a madness in all of us, and that madness just sprouts new madness. It lurks in the corners of your mind, waiting for that moment when you see a truly horrifying sight, when you are at your weakest. It jumps out and hijacks your soul. Even though you can still think, the only thoughts you have are those of continuing your madness because that is all you can think about. In the end however, you are just fulfilling a role that has been predetermined for you. In the end you cannot stop it no matter how many times you tell yourself.

LIfe is filled with choices, but all of them have been prordained right when you took your first breath. In truth freedom of will is but a pointless folly. We all have a date set for when we fall. The events that encompass our lives have already been planned right from the start. To say I should have done this or that is idiotic at best... yet we cannot help but ask ourselves these questions. It is the mortal query that has plagued us since time began. No matter what you tell yourself, life couldn't have played out differently. It's is a unwise man who screams to the heavens that he could have been different, when in fact he would never be. That... that is the truth to this world."

"You sure talk a lot. You would discount my choices in lieu of some destiny? I may have regrets, but I have made choices I am proud of too. To say that it's all going in one direction is to discount every good deed, every triumph in life. To say that our choices are preordained destroys the value of any living creature. It means that heroes do not deserve to be so, because they were only doing what they were supposed to. It would mean that everything I have done up til this point was worthless! That rescuing Sovereign was nothing more than the whim of something else's will! I refuse to believe that, Penance. And I will not be controlled by you, or by Death! You think things are so cut and dry? Maybe I should do something unexpected then, something the world has never seen before."

Vera ripped off the pounch around her neck, and produced the same stone she found earlier. "My father valued this stone, but he never knew what it was. Everyone I brought it to couldn't identify it. Far as anyone knew, it didn't exist. 'It's just a rock. It has no power.' Says them."

Penance was silent for a bit, "Vera... do you really believe that Arceus does not know each and every decision you will make in your life?" He cocked his head, "Because that is far from the truth. To say Arceus cannot know what you do will mean he is not omnipresent. That means he is not a true god. A god is not only omnipresent, but also knowledgeable about every facet of our existence. To say that there is no destiny is folly. We were both destined to stand here and converse in this manner. It was destiny that such words would come out of our mouths. It is even destiny that we have a day to die, and those who know of when they die and how... it is their destiny to prevent it or to simply let it happen.

We are in a way puppets you could say, those destined to walk a certain path, to die a certain way. Heroes are likewise the same. They are those that are destined for greatness most pokemon never have a chance to see in their lifetime. I am not the one in control of you, nor is Arceus. Every choice you have made is simply fate giving you the belief that you have done something remarkable... when in fact you have not. Vera... your family was fated to die that day, but you were spared. It was not some heavenly god looking down with kidness... it was because you were fated to be spared. Such as how I was fated to become mad... to have this as my own fate."

He looked at the stone, "And I would say the same of that rock. But judging by how you worded your sentence... it is apparently something more?"

"...it's funny. I keep the very thing that was valued by the man I hated. All he saw was a pretty rock, though. That's all anyone ever saw. A simple rock. A worthless girl... Does Arceus even care about what I went through? The hell I endured? I can't believe all that. I'll become something more than what he wanted. Even a simple rock can hold great potential. Screw destiny!"

Vera's hand tightened around the rock into a fist. "No more gods! We're done here!" Purple streams swirled around Vera, as a pink shell manifested around her, like a cocoon.

Penance slowly began to back away as the pink shell appeared. "Hm..." He could feel something swelling here, that wasn't good. He nodded, "I understand that attitude... so do what you will Vera. If my death comes today, then it comes. But I've been wired to not sit down... so it could mean your death is here then." He readied two Water Pulses, "So let us see what fate has in store for us."

The walls of the illusion began to peel away, revealing a smallish room in the underground. The shell around Vera began to crack, a few pieces flying off. The pieces left scorch marks where they landed. Then, all at once, the whole thing bursted into a ball of flame, which as it disapated, revealed a new shape. Something yet unseen. The feathers on Vera's head now flowed in an upward direction. The ones on her torso and legs were now Red and Black, instead of Red and Yellow. Two streams of fire emitted from her wrists, and she stood a bit taller than she did before.

Vera approached the wall of glass which seperated her from her capters. She placed a hand on it, and watched as it turned red, and melted away. "Hello, Penance."

The psychics around them quickly began to port away as the glass melted, yet Penance stood there with his two Water Pulses. "Vera... so... do you think it is my fate to perish this day?" He asked nonchalantly. "Either it is... or fate has another plan in store." He looked down at the colored bracelet he had on his wrist. "You know what always helped me... I always had a gut feeling that luck factored into life. Well, initially. My habits still factor into some things... like whenever death is facing me." He dissipated a Pulse and rubbed his bracelet slowly, "I guess it's a bit of calmness you know? To think you have some method of control..." He glanced back up, "It depends on how fate wants this done. Sometimes fate is a ugly mistress, other times it is beneficial to all. I'm sure you can easily kill me here and now... but unfortunatly I have a ceremony to go to."

He pulled out a inivitation and handed it to the fire type, "Of course you're invited. Honoring the dead you know. Usual stuff, ice cream, drinks, food, dancing, etc. To celebrate the happiness of them no longer feeling pain as well as to show how they lived their life." He walked past her and right to the door, "I assume you're coming so you should really get groomed and what not."

Vera knew Sovereign was gone from here. So that only left... "Where's Hanso?"

Penance glanced back at her, "Up there." He pointed at the hole she had made, "City is up there, go ahead and meet him and have some... alone time." He winked at her in a coy way. "Besides, I think he'll like the new look don't you?"

Vera looked up at the mess she made before jumping up, out of the hole. She was done dealing with Affiliates. She wasn't sure what this form was, or how long it would last, but she seemed to be perfectly healthy now. She needed to find Hanso, as he was probably the only friend she had now.

Granted, it was very difficult for Pokemon to hide themselves if a nearby Psychic were to just scan for their minds, so Hanso wondered why no Affiliates came along to confront him in their tunnels. The Gallade had been moving for a while now, his mind searching for any hint of Vera or Scar. Nothing so far, aside from the minds of other Pokemon out of sight. Reckless, as usual. Just how long will this take?...

Another intersection. Hanso sighed and leaned against a wall, spreading his mental sensors through the nearby tunnels. The earth's natural resistance made it easier to imagine the layout and direct his mind, even though he wouldn't remember much of it later on. He was beginning to think it would be better to wait until he met Penance again and ask him then. And ruin the fun, 'hero'? Cummon, I'm enjoying the show here, even though--

Shut up. Found something. It was the first real lead since coming down here a while ago. Feeling less tired now that he felt a little excited, Hanso hurried down a tunnel to the left, focusing on the familiar signature. Well, more familiar than that of the Affiliates. Closer, closer... Slowing to a halt in a relatively straight stretch of tunnel, Hanso examined the signature. Despite the dark being lighter than it should have, he still wouldn't be able to find any small details. If...Scar, is it, was behind one of these walls, Hanso didn't know how to get through.

At least I know where he is. Relatively. Hm... Hanso placed a mental signal where he stood, noting the shadows wreathed through it. It took a couple minutes to establish the signal, but once he had, he could find it later on. If the Psychics didn't get rid of it while he was gone.

No worries there. I really do think your new power's making it resistant to Psychics. Not that I'd know for sure, but hey. When was Varren going to shut up? Hanso reached out again, mentally looking in the direction he hadn't gone yet. It surprised him to find another familiar mind so soon, but it wasn't Penance he'd been looking for. The Golduck seemed to be moving further away; Hanso began running toward him, looking for whatever room Penance had left.

Soon he found a door in one wall and checked that no Affiliates were closing in or hiding behind the door. Opening it, Hanso edged in to one side, eyes narrowed against the sudden light. Other than a glass wall with a hole melted in it, the room was empty. Blinking away spots, he could see that the light came from a hole in the ceiling. The surface...what's interesting about this room, though? No other Pokemon were in the room, but a closer mental look revealed lingering traces of Psychic activity, very recent. Hanso poked through the ceiling hole with his mind, beginning to scan the outside area.

There! The Gallade sprinted forward from the wall, legs pushing off the floor as he leaped for the hole in the ceiling. He reached out with one hand and grabbed onto something just outside the edge, giving him enough purchase to begin pulling himself up. Hanso hadn't stopped long enough to connect the melted glass with Vera's presence nearby.

Penance walked on past the room, then quickly turned a corner and glanced about, grinning as Hanso went on into the room, apparently at a hurry. He had to quiet his snickering and resumed his own journey. Yeah, those two were a good couple, but there was also the Gardevoir, but if Scar was any indication then she wouldn't even remember the good times she had with the Gallade. That poor old Gallade would be so confused at the beginning, but that was what fate had in store for him, now the question was who would he choose. Would he go with the strong fire type, or the fragile psychic that would desperately need his help? It would say a lot about his personality as well, hehe.

The tunnels winded about but he soon made it to where the ceremony was to take place... all the way in the outskirts of the wilderness. The paneling was coming along nicely and the signs were all up to date. If they weren't some heads would be rolling already. The torches were ready and the names were still being written, but it would be all okay. His Affiliates were trained well in this practice ever since... well... that one time.

He shook his head, "Hm... should be time by now. Kingsley, go and start throwing out the papers. Are the psychics off?"

"Yes sir!" A Machoke stated. "They left a few minutes ago. So far no cries of distress have come up, so we assume their missions are going successful."

He smirked at that, "Of course they would be! It's clockwork... always has been."

Meanwhile in Cape City the Affiliates had been building, but paused as a bird flew overhead and multiple paper slips fell down. On each one was the Affiliate's symbol... and that was enough to cause them to cease their activities and head to the town gates. It was time.

The way there were lined with torches that now glowed against the setting sun. The many Affiliates walked along solemnly until finally getting to the large area. There was a wooden stage with a large wooden pole on it. There were numerous papers attached to the wooden pole, but for now the Affiliates remained silent, just waiting for the ceremony to begin.

Cape City began to stir as the sun set. Along with the Affiliates, soldiers of the Alpha Alliance too began to make their way to the plains, after the messages from their Generals of the ceremony that was to take place there. Because of Cape City's proximity to Gold City, the Alpha Alliance armies didn't tell the citizens that it was entirely safe to return to the city. Yet despite this, their seizure of Cape made hundreds flock back to their homes. Once news of the ceremony also reached their ears, they too wanted to be apart of it. To the many that fought for their freedom, they figured they owed them that. To others, they just wanted to see what the excitement was about.

Generals Belas and Hazone strolled along the lit path along with their men to the designated location. Their presence at the ceremony was a must, according to Hazone, who believed morale was everything at this point in the war. Following the lit path, the Pokemon of the Alpha Alliance gathered around the wooden stage, many of them chatting among themselves, while others stood grimly, remembering the dead, whether they were their family or friends. It was a gathering of contrasting emotions, because while so many were happy to see their lives returned, others were devastated that so many were lost in the process.

Soon after, members of the Gold Tribe began making their way down the path. Zane walked alongside Guardia, Dryad and Sword and Shield down to where the other Pokemon began to gathered, joining the crowd as one of them. The other would surely come soon after. Excited murmurs came from some of the citizens, as Zane was reminded of their status to many who hadn't battled with them on a regular basis. Even after everything, there was admiration and respect from so many.

Hosted by the Affiliates or not, a ceremony honoring the brave dead was something Zane couldn't skip. This was a ceremony essentially for everyone, which he could respect. After all, without the Alpha Alliance backing them, there was no way the Gold Tribe could have made it this far. Whether or not the Affiliates would choose to remember the fallen Gold Tribe as well was irrelevant to him. He knew he would remember them. And when the time came for their traditional burial in the Golden Cemetery in Gold City, where essentially all fallen Gold Tribe members were honored, he would do so to all of the fallen who died under his command.

The light from the torches wavered in the fast approaching night sky as a Combusken came up to the stage. She raised her hands to the sky and spoke out loudly, "Affiliates, guests, take heed. Only if you are ready to release the souls of the departed shall ye attend this meeting. If you cannot let go, then away with you! For now... silence!"

The fire type moved away from the center of the stage as Penance stepped up and began to pace around on it. He opened his mouth, as if to speak, but he closed it again and paced a bit more. "It has been some time since we last did this Affiliates... so long since a loss of life happened." He stopped and faced the crowd, "The visions showed to us... the prophecies came to pass... because we were fated to lose our way... we were fated to arrive at this point in time.. to experience this catastrophe."

"AS IS FATED." The Affiliates shouted out.

"We have lost many today, but the loss couldn't be averted. They gave their lives, as was fated to be their choice. They died, so that many more could be saved. That has been this war... death so that lives could be spared. Death so that for one more minute this world can continue on its current path."

He smiled weakly, "But as is customary... their souls must be led."

The Combusken spoke up once more, "It is said in the darkness that lost souls continue to mingle on this world, unable to find their way. To aid them it is said that light will guide them to the heavens." Suddenly the Combusken began to twirl on the stage. She twirled faster and faster as flames began to sprout from his hands. Finally she stopped twirling causing her to face the pole as she shot out the fire she had gathered at the pole. The flames quickly ran up the wood as the papers attached to it caught alit as well.

"The names of those who perish shall no longer remain on this world. To do so will mean their spirits will be captured here eternally. By burning their names yet another chain that bounds them here is shattered. May the sadness perish as well. From this moment on, their suffering ends."

As the fire reached the top of the monument a signal must have been given because from the back of the monument more flames rose up into the sky, flames to help the spirits return to the heavens.

Penance bowed his head for a moment, then pulled himself up, "Well, that's that! Let the celebrations begin!" A pair of cannons off to the side sounded out as loud cheers broke off from the Affiliate crowd. Music began to play from the various musicians who had brought their instruments into the crowd and a more cheerful atmosphere settled. There were even those who had brought stores of food and drink with them and wasted no time in getting free from the crowd and setting up the miniature booths they had to start serving. Eventually the musicians settled into a similar medley as it became more along a celebration.

Vera heard something behind her, and to her surprise found Hanso crawling out of the hole she had made. This definitely saved her a lot of effort. She walked over to him, slightly smiling, until-

She grabbed his face before saying anything to him ad stared at him for a moment, her smile now gone, and replaced with a worried grimace. "Your eyes..." She let him go and stepped away for a moment. "...what happened to you in there, Hanso? you're eyes are just like Sovereigns" Just like Varren's...

Vera snapped out of it. "They'll be starting the ceremony soon, you should go." Vera's body glowed as she shifted back to her regular shape. "I don't belong there, given the fact that I helped the ones that caused all this." She looked at the small rock that she had put her soul into. "Blazikenite..."

His attention was on getting out of the hole first. It wasn't until he stood up a few feet from it that Hanso had a good look at Vera. The Gallade took a surprised step back, eyes taking in the new details. It was Vera, but she looked like no Blaziken he'd seen before. Up and moving, so she's fi--

Hanso froze until Vera let him go then stepped back himself. What did she mean? His eyes were their usual, heterochromic selves. Shaking his head slightly, he looked at the rock Vera held before looking up. Now that he knew Vera was out of the Affiliates' hands and Scar was still alive, if that had been his mental signature he'd found, Hanso didn't have anything to say.

He began to turn away, then faced her and asked, "Do you still need medical attention or food or...something?" During the shift of Hanso's head, his red eye gleamed a bit brighter, as if to taunt Vera. "There's a medical bunker close to Stoneguard. ...See ya." Hanso turned away again, placing a mental tracker on the Blaziken before leaving.

~~~~~

Hanso had made sure his sack and personal belongings, including his bracer and golden armlet, were stashed in a safe place before heading to the ceremony. Near the back of the crowd, away from anyone he would recognize, Hanso could have passed for any other Pokemon if it wasn't for his gray eye. He needed time to think.

As the cannons sounded, Hanso's stomach growled. Need to eat, too. As the crowd began to disperse and celebrate, Hanso made a beeline for the nearest booth he spotted.

The darkness dissipated to reveal a crumbling building. All around it, buildings fell and Pokemon fought with Ancients. Allora recognized this scene from just a few hours ago. It was the battle of Cape.

In the building, Paladin stood over the body of someone else. Allora walked closer wearily, still near to fainting from her mental injuries. To her horror, she found that the body belonged to... Veletra.

"It was his fault, you know."

That horrible voice came from beside her. She looked, and there stood what appeared to be a totally ordinary Golurk, only with the black coloration of Paladin's dark side.

"No!" Allora shouted at it. "Impossible!"

"Oh, please. I may be evil, but I'm no liar. His actions caused her death. And the death of sooooo many others." Chaos stared at the unfolding scene. It watched, emotionless, as Veletra died before them. "Just watch."

Allora watched, horrified, as Paladin sped off to confront another Pokemon - a Tyranitar. A Sentinel, it seemed. She just gazed at their colossal battle as it tore a hole in the city and killed thousands of innocent Pokemon.

When it ended with Paladin flying away, which Allora remembered seeing, she understood. Chaos was right.

The scene shifted to another familiar sight. It was not a memory but was, instead, Paladin's subconscious. Information whizzed all around her, but through the endless brainstorm, she could make out the shape of a Pokemon. "Paladin!"

She rushed towards him, but as she got closer, she noticed that something surrounded him: iron bars. Finally, she stood before his prison. There stood what was left of the once mighty Golurk: a thinner, frailer, creature chained to the wall. Allora couldn't believe what she was seeing - Paladin was trapped in his own mind by this... this thing.

Knowing Chaos was there, she turned around and screamed "SHOW YOURSELF!"

Sure enough, in an instant, there stood a dark Golurk before her. "This is what I wanted to show you..." it said eerily. Chaos extended a hand, and from it came a dark beam headed straight for Allora. She barely dodged it, jumping to the side. However, the dark beam did not stop. It kept flying through the information in Paladin's mind, burning any it came into contact with to a cinder. Finally, it reached the chaied Golurk. The beam burned through the iron bars and penetrated the Golurk's chest.

"Stop!" Allora shouted, heading straight for Chaos. However, when she was within a few feet of it, she found that she was repelled by some other force, and thrown backwards. The beam did not dissipate, it simply kept penetrating Paladin's chest, and as it did, Allora could see the life draining from him. His body grew smaller and shriveled, until finally, there was nothing but a husk.

Allora fell to the floor, defeated. She had failed. Her friend was dead.

"No, not dead..." Chaos rasped as the beam retracted, returning to it. "Simply... me." Allora realized that it had absorbed Paladn's life force. He was now part of it. "That's right..." Its voice began to twist, to change, "we are now..." It morphed into something familiar, "one." That word was said in the voice of her friend Paladin.

"No." Allora said, more sternly this time. She stood up, her grief being replaced by anger as she glared at Chaos. "He is gone. Dead. Because you are not him!" She bared her fangs, "And you never will be!"

With that, she charged at it. Predicting the barrier to be in her way, she focused all her psychic energy on it in order to break it, and sure enough, it shattered to pieces. Chaos, however, did not flinch.

"Hmph. Bravery will get you nowhere, child."

Chaos got into a battle stance. Allora lunged at it, cloaked in psychic energy, but it swiftly dodged the attack. She landed on all fours and twisted around quickly. Chaos stood on top of what appeared to be a floating bit of information. The information, at least to her, materialized itself as a large shard of glass reflecting the information it held. Allora did the same, jumping onto a nearby shard of information that floated aimlessly in the subconscious.

Chaos was next to attack. It sent a large shock wave of dark energy at Allora that destroyed all information around it. Allora dodged the dark shock wave by jumping over it, but it destroyed the shard of glass upon which she had stood. On her descent, she found another shard, and used her Psychic to lift herself up and onto it. Chaos attacked again, sending another shock wave, but she jumped off her shard and onto another one. Chaos sent a flurry of shock waves, all aimed at her, but she just jumped from one floating shard of information to the next until she was right beside it. Using her Psychic, she shattered the shard of info on which the thing stood, causing it to fall. However, it activated its Flight Mode, and rushed upwards to land on a shard of glass higher up. Allora hopped from shard to shard once more, hoping to get to its level. This time, though, it shot out shock waves and dark beams similar to the one that had killed Paladin. She managed to dodge most of them, though one of the beams grazed her side. The instant it hit, she could feel her life force being drained just a little. She could feel her life weakening.

"Hehe" Chaos chuckled with a smirk, "Your life tastes soooo good."

Allora got to the top, though when she tried to attack Chaos, it just disappeared. The fact that it hadn't really done any significant damage to her yet made her realize that it was simply toying with her.

"Right you are," it said, and you are so fun to play with."

The information shard on which she stood shattered instantly, causing her to start falling extremely fast. Just before she hit the ground, though, she used her psychic to lift her own metaphysical body up, and brought it down slowly and gently.

"What you don't seem to understand, Allora, is that with Paladin gone, this is my mind now." Chaos materialized before her. "And I can do whatever I want with it."

Suddenly, all the floating info shards stopped moving, and turned their sharp edges at Allora. All the while, though, the Ninetales kept her eyes fixed on the glowing red ones of Chaos, who kept its own eyes fixed on hers.

Then, the shard began raining down. Allora jumped around, managing to dodge the first few, but was then hit by more shards. Her already bloodied fur became almost totally red as the shards dug into her flesh, creating several large gashes and cuts. The shower of glass continued until she lay on the ground, helpless.

"You don't go barging into somebody else's mind and try to have your way, kid. Keep that in mind for the next few minutes that you're alive," Chaos said.

It walked towards her, a giant grin on its face. However, using what little force she had left, she stood, and once again gazed into those soulless red eyes. "You forget something as well, Chaos," Allora said with confidence. "My mind is in here too. Right now we're connected with a psychic link, which means I can do anything I could do in my mind here. Of course, you had Paladin chained up, so I couldn't do that. The link didn't work. But now that you've undone that..."

All of Allora's bruises and cuts suddenly disappeared, and her blood red fur became a shining white again.

Chaos began to morph. Its form twisted as its body began to change shape. It grew an extra pair of arms, and its hands transformed into two sets of blades. The seal on its chest disappeared as the gash on it opened wider and wider, until it covered the entire front half of its body. Then, its legs retracted into its body and were replaced with wisps of smoke that seemed to hold up its body. Its glaring red eyes seemed to overtake its entire face. Allora knew this was not going to be an easy fight. However, with the full power of her mind at her disposal, she had to win this.

Without a word, Chaos shot a Dark Beam out of its first blade. Allora generated a psychic barrier in front of her, shielding her from the attack, and then enveloped herself with that shield, molding it to her shape so that it could protect her from attacks. She used her Psychic to grab hold of two shards of information and send them flying at the beast as a distraction while she charged at it. Chaos used two of its arms to slice the shards in half, and then directed its attention at the charging Ninetales. It sent a Dark Wave of energy at her, which caused her to be pushed back and stop her charge. Again, it sent a Dark Wave, which she countered with a Heat Wave this time. The two Waves clashed in midair, pushing against one another, and Allora took the opportunity to jump onto a shard and leap over the waves, descending straight for her opponent.

Chaos was quick to react, slashing with one of its swords. Allora's shield protected her, but the attack still knocked her back onto the ground. Then, she generated two swords made of psychic energy, which floated beside her, and charged at Chaos. It slashed with all four of its swords, but Allora could only deflect two of the swords, taking a hit to the sides from the two other swords.

Allora was knocked back, but sent a Heat Wave at her opponent, and charged right behind it, using it as a shield. Chaos, however, sent a Dark Beam straight through the Wave, directly at Allora. The beam struck her, and despite the fact that she was protected by her force field, she still felt its life force draining effects. This knocked her off course, and her Heat Wave ended up dissipating because of her momentary lapse of concentration. Recollecting herself, she jumped onto a shard of info, and used her Psychic to ride the shard towards Chaos. It slashed with its sword, shattering the glass, but she jumped off the shard at just the right moment, ending up behind it. She quickly launched a large Energy Ball straight at the deformed thing's back, knocking it off balance. She quickly proceeded to jump onto its back and use her psychic swords to slash at its head. However, Chaos deflected the slashes with its own swords and shook her off of its back.

Bearing a battle stance, Chaos slashed at Allora with one of its blades. She swiftly dodged the attack, but it quickly attacked again with the second slash, which she barely managed to avoid by jumping onto a shard. Almost instantly, the third slash came for her, and knocked her off the shard and back onto the ground. While she lay, there Chaos took the opportunity to strike with a Dark Beam, and ensnared her in its grasp. She grunted in pain as she felt her life being drained away.

"Ah... sweet, juicy life!" Chaos bellowed in Paladin's voice. Allora struggled against the power of the beam. She launched one of her swords at Chaos when it was too focused on her, and it hit the dark Golurk right in the face, causing it to fall over. Its beam, which still came out of its blade, was instead directed at a giant shard of information directly above her, which it managed to split in half, causing both pieces to fall down straight at Allora. Realizing she would never be able to get away before the shard crushed her, she focused her whole mind on her force field, and placed it above her.

The first blow was devastating, and it took all her force to maintain the force field so that it repelled the giant shard. With a mighty heave, she used the force field to throw the object in the direction of Chaos. Though it looked worried at first, Chaos released a dark flamethrower from its chest, which instantly burned a hole through the giant shard just big enough so that the monster passed through it when the shard landed.

The second half of the giant shard was too much, and the psychic barrier shattered, causing the information to crush her.

The Ninetales struggled under the shard, as Chaos approached, that grin plastered on its face.

"That looks claustrophobic," it chuckled.

That only served to fuel Allora's anger. The anger brought some mental power back, and using it in a last attempt, she generated a force field to lift the second shard up into the air and straight at Chaos. Its closeness to the shard did not give it enough time to react, and it was sent flying backwards. Allora got up wearily to find the dark entity stuck underneath the glass. However, it raised two of its blades and effortlessly slice through the information of the shard, freeing itself.

"Do you ever die?!" Allora screamed in frustration. This only caused the beast to laugh. When it stopped, its grin was even wider than before and Allora could see malice in its eyes.

Vera watched as the celebrations commenced. Her wounds seemed to have closed with her transformation, but she could still feel some of the pain. She saw the faces of merriment, joy in their victory. In this, Vera felt more alone than she ever had in her entire life. She had nothing to celebrate. Sovereign was gone, possibly dead. She was left in a place that had only a few days ago been in the control of the Sentinels, whom she had helped.

The Blazikenite rested safely within the pouch around her neck. She wasn't sure of it's effects, or how often it could be used. It seemed smart to save it for when she really needed it.

Those eyes... It wasn't something anyone would just notice. It was a certain dullness, a very subtle difference in his eyes. Something he could see in Sovereign ever since that day. It was something that reminded her of Varren. What happened in there...?

Vera rested against the wall of Cape City, next to a giant crack Sovereign had made. She couldn't know for sure it was his work, but she had a feeling. Perhaps the last thing he had left behind. While the others rejoiced, she slept, her pain her only companion. She would talk to the Gold Tribe later. They would need all the help they could get to stop Auron.

Instantly, darkness enveloped grinning Chaos, cocooning it in shadow. Allora watched suspiciously as the cocoon began to bulge. It was transforming again. And frankly, she did not want to see what was worse than what he'd already presented her.

Enough, she decided, I need to get out of here and get help from the other psychics!

She did her best to focus on breaking the psychic link between their minds, therefore waking them both up. However, in that instant, she realized something. Paladin was now dead... which meant that if his body woke up, it would be fully controlled by the only other presence within it: Chaos.

She couldn't let that happen. By the time she would have gotten the other psychics, Chaos might have escaped. And the only thing worse than losing her friend was allowing this monster to control his body and wreak havoc.

Allora restored the connection, and glanced at the cocoon. It had grown exponentially. She didn't think she could destroy whatever was in there, but maybe she could hinder it long enough so that Paladin's body would stay unconscious, and she could get the other psychics to finish the job.

What emerged from that cocoon would be an image that would haunt her for the rest of her life. From that cocoon emerged a pitch black, red-eyed Ninetales with her own blue Warrior Fangs underneath its eyes. She was looking at a shadow version of herself.

"In the end, I am always this. A dark side. Everyone has one, even you." To her horror, Allora found that Chaos was using her own voice. "You think that you're completely good, don't you? That you kill in the name of honor and justice. But, in the end, what gives you the right to decide whether others should live or die? Of course, I shouldn't be one to talk. In case you haven't noticed, I'm evil." It laughed a deep, distorted laugh that sounded like a mix of her own voice and Paladin's.

Then, the dark Allora began to grow, from its back emerged a bulb that looked like the head of a Golurk. Its front legs grew slim and tentacle-like, while its back legs grew long and wide, to create Golurk-like legs. It stood up on its hind legs, and its Ninetales head grew larger and had bigger teeth.

From its back, the head seemed to grow out of its back, followed by a torso and a pair of arms identical to those of a Golurk. The torso grew long, and extended over the rest of the creature's form until it loomed over, like some sort of parasite. Meanwhile, more tentacles emerged from the Ninetales part of the body until there were so many Allora couldn't count them anymore; dozens riddled its torso.

Allora had to keep reminding herself that this thing wasn't real. It was a mental apparition. Chaos had taken this form to scare her or intimidate her. And it was working.

She was no longer as confident as before. This hybrid Chaos looked like the toughest thing she'd ever faced, but by Arceus, she was going to face it.

"Let's end this!" She shouted, and with that, she was off.

Chaos had become massive, about as tall as a five-story building. From its Golurk body, it began punching at the ground furiously with massive fists, shattering any shards of information it came across. Then, with its Ninetales body, it lashed out with tentacles. Allora skillfully avoided the punches, but ended up getting whipped multiple times by the tentacles. She found that, despite her best efforts at concentration, she could not heal the wounds inflicted. She could feel them... draining her. Her life slipped away the longer the wounds stayed, but she persisted. She jumped onto a nearby shard and, using her psychic energy, guided the platform up to the monster's head. She launched a Heat Wave at it, which did no apparent damage. The monster didn't even seem to notice it. It returned a Dark Wave, five times as powerful and large, which knocked Allora right off the platform, and obliterated any nearby shards. She landed on the ground hard, and forced herself to stand up. Her wounds drained her, and she knew she wouldn't be able to go on for long.

"End this? Hah! You sure talk big for someone so tiny." Chaos laughed, and lifted one of its legs to crush Allora. Not knowing what else to do, she summoned the last of her force to run. She tried her best to outrun the giant, but it was much faster and caught up to her in mere seconds. It lifted its foot once more, to deliver the killing blow...

"Hah! Aahahahaha!" Chaos began laughing insanely, and Allora simply watched as it stood frozen in place, the only thing that moved was its Golurk head, which laughed endlessely.

"You actually thought I was going to kill you? No! I could've done that long ago if I'd wanted to. After all, it is my mind." Chaos said. Allora dropped to the ground, unable to keep her footing from the draining effects of her wounds. The monster stopped laughing and stared at the defeated Ninetales. "No, I simply needed you. Look around you," Chaos ordered. Allora did so wearily. All she saw was blackness.

"EXACTLY! Chaos shouted unnecessarily loudly. "Blackness! This is why I needed you, Allora. I brought you into Paladin's mind so that I could fight you, and finally destroy all of this useless information! Don't you see?" Then, Allora understood. "Yes! Our fight has destroyed every last bit of information left floating around in here. And Paladin himself too! Without your life force, I never could've gotten enough power to do it, or to transform into this incredible being!" It laughed for a moment, then continued. "With it all gone, this place is an empty, meaningless void waiting to be filled with glorious, oh glorious DARKNESS!"

Allora had to get out of here. She had to break the link before Chaos could absorb any more of her life force, but... she was too weak. "Oh, don't worry about that, dear. I'll break the link myself in due time. After all, I don't need you anymore. However, I need to make you weak enough to ensure you won't interfere with the final phase of my plan."

"What... plan?" Allora said weakly. "Why not just kill me?

"What?! Kill you?! Chaos said, as if offended. "Arceus, no! What fun would that be?!"

Then, it laughed that horrible laugh again. Allora could feel her consciousness slipping away. She had to... stop... him...

Chaos

"Oh man..." Chaos grumbled, as it struggled to find its place in this empty mind. "I can't steer this thing by myself. Where is that triggerman that the big lug in Silver City promised me?

"Oh wait..." Chaos steered Paladin's lumbering form in the direction of a familiar figure in the distance. He was accompanied by two other, smaller figures. "There he is.

In the back of Paladin's destroyed mind, one thing remained. One thing which would eternally remain in this hollowed-out, dark brain. The drumming. The never-ending four beats, repeating themselves over and over.

Dum, dum, dum, dum...

Allora

Allora awoke in a daze. Slowly, she felt life return to her, but her mind was still numb. She struggled to stand up on her wobbly legs, falling over a few times, but eventually managing to get up. Scanning her surroundings quickly, she found that she was still in the exact same place she had left her physical self, but Paladin - or at least, his body - was nowhere to be seen. How long had she been out? Chaos must've already escaped with Paladin's body. But then, she heard a faint stomp from not so far away. That sounded like Paladin's footstep. Although her first thought was to get the other psychics, she realized that by the time she had done so, he'd have gotten away. So, wearily, she began following him, her mind still slightly dazed.

While walking, she began wondering exactly what could've happened to her own mind during the fight. Paladin's mind had been completely obliterated, and since they were connected by a psychic link at the time, that could've also had some effect on her own mind. She wondered what Veletra would've said about this. But then, she realized something. She had no idea who this 'Veletra' was. How had this name suddenly popped into her head? She knew nobody of that name.

Walking ahead of the giant, she found that his eyes were... lifeless. As if all color had been drained from him. It also seemed as if the darkness had not overtaken his body, as half of it was still normal. Was it possible that Chaos had not taken full control yet? The fact that the body walked aound aimlessly like a zombie further supported the theory. But how could she stop it? Was there still a chance that she could kill him?

But... she couldn't. Not only was she far too weak to even attack, but she couldn't kill her friend. Even if it wasn't really him, his body was the same and she couldn't bring herself to do that. She desperately wanted to contact the other psychics, but her mind was too weak as well. Her psychic powers were totally drained.

In the end, the only thing she could do was follow him to see if he was going anywhere in particular. He did nothing to stop her. This went on for a few minutes until the two came upon a clearing, where all houses in the area had apparently been destroyed. Glancing ahead, she saw three figures, two of them were smaller, one taller than his associates. At first, she assumed that they were Affiliates, but when she got a closer look at the Jolteon, the Sableye, and more importantly, the Scizor in the distance, she couldn't help but feel uneasy.

The Sentinel Sentry examined the poison afflictions that were placed upon Levina, their newest Sentinel. It was just as Snype had said, she was hit pretty hard, and they wouldn't be able to cure her until they would reach Silver City. Fortunately, Sentry was a known speed demon, perhaps the uncontested fastest Pokemon in Valkaria, and he would likely be able to carry her quick enough for help. Although truthfully, he would rather have left her behind and not slow them down. The problem he foresaw was that Snype had grown attached to this Sentinel during their time together, from what he could gather, and disposing of her in this way wouldn't sit well with him.

"You'll have to pull through until Silver City," Sentry commented towards Levina after examining her injuries. "If we move now, we'll make it before sundown. The rest of the armies are already on the move." Sentry was preparing to leave, when Snype asked about the status of the other Sentinels. Being the scout of the Silver Tribe, he had already gathered enough information about their statuses and whereabouts to the best of his abilities. He would have much rather just moved on instead of having to explain the information, but he figured as fellow Sentinels, he would give them the full story, or at least as much as they ought to know.

"Deluge and the Inferno are confirmed dead. Scar and Genevieve, as far as you are concerned, shared the same fate." He looked around at the destruction that had built up in Cape City. "In other words, most of the Sentinels are dead." As he said this, his eyes caught site of something in the distance. A figure, large and on approach, apparently to their direction. It took a moment for Sentry to discern who, or rather what it was. But when he figured it out, a small smirk crept onto his face for a brief second.

"...but not all of them," He said, turning to Snype and Levina. "You two move on ahead. I have to...wake up one of our own." He turned and dashed in the direction of the behemoth in a blinding speed, stopping a few meters away from it. He noticed a Ninetales close by the giant Pokemon, but payed her little mind.

"You've been dreaming for so long," Sentry shouted above to the lifeless Pokemon approaching him. He stuck out his arms, his claws at opposite sides of his body, as if he was preparing to fire an attack upon the giant. "I think it's time you wake up."

In a swift motion, the Scizor brought his claws together, but instead of producing any attack, a simple noise was made. The claws were brought back to opposite sides of his body, and the act was repeated. Four times, the act was repeated.

Clap. Clap. Clap. Clap...

Plains of Valkaria- Ceremony

After the ceremony for the fallen had come and gone, celebrations for the victory of Cape City had begun. It was hard at first for Zane to get into the mood of the party, mostly because of how much struggle he knew was left ahead. But eventually, he managed to relax enough to eat and rest with the rest of the soldiers. Whatever thoughts he reserved for the Affiliates, he knew this was a good idea on their part. It provided a comforting atmosphere for the soldiers, as well as gave them a chance to rest, dance, and eat their troubles away. As the night moved on, the celebrations grew louder and less tense. Soon, many were forgetting they were fighting a war. They were living in the moment, enjoying them as if it were their last moments they had. The hours passed by, the sky grew dark, but the brightness of the party didn't diminish for a long time.

When it finally did, many of the Pokemon had either collapsed from exhaustion or began carrying themselves and others back to the city, to their tents. Many wore merry looks and laughed and yelled with each other. Zane also smiled as he walked back to the city to end his night of celebrations, strolling alongside Sword and Shield, Gallant, and Guardia (who may have had one too many Berry Alcoholic Juices). Other Gold Tribe members walked close enough by as well, along with dozens of jubilant Alpha Alliance soldiers and citizens. General Belas, who had also partaken in the celebrations loudly with his soldiers, caught up to Zane on his way back to the city.

"A fine celebration to a great victory, if I do say so myself," Belas exclaimed to the Gold Tribe members. Sword and Shield roared with delight while Guardia giggled with a slight hiccup. Zane smiled and nodded.

"It was a big step," He said, the group now close enough to the city to be reminded of the extensive damage caused to it. Belas, upon looking at the city once more, sighed.

"We've got a long road ahead of us still. We'll slowly start settling citizens back into their homes, and I'll prepare the soldiers for what lies ahead."

"How long do you think before we're ready?" Zane inquired, turning to the General.

"We'll clear up our path, get a plan in motion, recuperate, and gather everyone we can. In a week, I'll have everyone ready to march. This I promise."

Zane eyed the General, who gave him a piercing, confident look. He nodded to the booming Belas. "We'll be ready then," He assured him, to which General Belas answered back with a large, booming laughter.

"Well, I should hope so! It wouldn't quite be the return of Gold City without the Gold Tribe!" He laughed, departing from the group and heading toward his tent. He moved an arm up and waved them off, before disappearing inside. Soon after, Zane and the others said their good-byes, and made off to their own, set up tents to sleep. As Zane reached his own tent, he fell onto his bed with a large sigh, his tiredness from the day catching up with him, and slowly, he closed his eyes to sleep, before a chilling voice seemed to pierce into his skull.

"Great... so in other words... everybodies dead." Snype thought to himself. He picked Levina off the ground as best as he could. He was a puny Pokemon but he'd attempt to manage. Maybe they'd find a berry or something along the way. They didn't have the time to go scavenging though. Snype had to get out of Cape City and make it to Silver City. He wasn't sure how long Levina would last with a major poisoning like this. Snype really would have just left her behind, but he was growing fond of his new sidekick. Saving her would probobly manipulate her into tagging along even longer... even after this whole silver tribe stuff. She'd be a handy partner.

Sentry went toward a Giant figure in the distance. He kind of hoped Sentry wouldn't get himself killed either. Heck, he was rather worried about the state of the Silver Tribe at this point. If things ended up going bad... well Snype would move on. Maybe as a freelance mercenary or something along those lines. A means to get cash. Its not like he could walk into town or something. He was part of the destruction of a major city. He'd be a wanted criminal for sure. It got him a tad excited...

Levina coughed loudly. "Ha... comon, I figured you would just leave me to die or something. I think you are growing attached to me... heheh." She joked, followed by another cough.

Ragnaros glanced behind him, to Gold City, for one last time. Not that he could see anything of it in the dark. The sun had gone from the sky a long time ago. He just sat on one of the lower mountain peaks, feeling the cold wind of the night perk up his wings. It was just like the old times, when he only had to worry about doing good in his school as a member of the Gold Tribe.

"... I guess it's time to go back."

Four hours later, he was flying right above Cape City. The tents of the army of the good guys were right beneath him. Who to tell, now? Ancients all bundled up in a torturehouse, something must be up, even an idiot could see that. Who to trust more, though? Grinning, he thought about telling Penance first. Now that'd be a twist. That fool would've come up with another folly and he wouldn't even tell us. How fun! Then he remembered how much he wanted to stick his burning claws through that stupid Golduck's skull and twist his head and eat it. For betraying him, more than the Gold Tribe.

In the end, he saw the Metagross and decided. It was Belas, one of the Generals of the Alpha Alliance. He'd have to do, he landed next to him with a thud, drawing his attention. He made sure to have a formal expression as he spoke, lest he reveal anything he didn't want to.

"Belas... yeah. You won't face any opposition in Gold City. I'm able to land freely there, and so are your men. But there's one thing, the Ancients. I didn't count thousands, but there's gotta be a lot of them, outside the city, all in a torturehouse. You might want to rethink your strategic approach for this battle."

Belas walked toward the main tent, where he had positioned himself to sleep. He wanted to be right in the middle of his troops, in case an attack came at any point, and he would be able to shout orders almost immediately. It may have been uncomfortable to sleep in, surrounded by maps and tacticians, but he'd rather be uncomfortable than dead. As he approached his tent, he was startled by the appearance of one of the Gold Tribe members before him. It was the one known as Bloodthirster, a Salamence. He hadn't had much contact with him for the duration of their campaign across Valkaria. However, from what he could tell about his reputation, his Gold Tribe title is a suitable one.

It was an interesting thing he discovered though. He decided against asking him why he was even in Gold City to begin with. The more important matter was what the dragon had discovered while he was there. "Really? Interesting..." He pondered aloud, talking both to Ragnaros and to himself. A few thoughts ran through his head about his next course of action. At this point, he would probably contact Hazone and figure out exactly how to take this sign. However, he knows the first obvious step is to observe much more before attacking.

"Thanks for the information. I'll probably send some more scouts while we gather our strength to try to find out what exactly is going on." He put a giant arm closer to his face, his way of placing a hand on his chin to ponder, and added after. "You too are welcome to accompany them on these scouting missions. We could use a Gold Tribe member on them as a precaution."

Penance 'Madman' Malum and Sentry:
A Lovely Conversation detailing a bit of Nothing

As night fell upon the party goers there were a few Affiliates who were staying behind to clean up the stalls as well as safely dispose of the now burnt out wodden colemn. Although the Alpha Alliance was now in control of the city there were a few Affiliates here and there who were perched on top of buildings acting as a sort of lookout for the city. With most of the psychics out of the city now Penance would have to meet with his scouts one on one to find out was was being discovered. As everyone went to their own tents Penance entered one of the crumbling buildings. "Lay it on me."

Out of nowhere a Kecleon appeared, "Penance, we have seen some Sentinels close to the city. A Sableye and a Jolteon have departed and are heading back to Silver City it seems. A scizor is still here, but he is chatting with a Golurk. The Golurk doesn't look that well, almost as if it is in a daze. It is the same Golurk we brought in with the Gold Tribe. We suspect he is suffereing from some trauma to the head perhaps, which could explain why he is shuffling around and it could mean he is suffering from shock from the recent battle. However, we overheard that the Scizor was stating he had been asleep and starting clanging his claws together in some sort of signal."

The Golduck nodded, "Hm... he was missing, yet Zane wasn't stating that anyone was missing. Interesting don't ya think? I want to go see him. I'll be off, you all know what to do."

The Golduck cracked his neck a bit and headed on out, whistling softly to himself. He kicked a rock out of the way as he passed an Abra, "Go wild. They didn't even bother to guess." He said as he passed by.

The psychic formed a small smile on his face as he disappeared back into the shadows. For now Penance made his way up to a building and let out a loud whistle. He jumped down just as a Pidgeot passed below and the two flew high up. "Hm... we can head that way. Stay up high mind you, don't want any broken necks now." As the two flew over the Golduck shouted down, "Hey down there Sentry! I see you have a new recruit! Waking him up I see eh!? Well, not to sound so sassy, but he is sort of a weakling from my viewpoint! I guess that's why the Sentinels keep failing eh!? Of course, that silver crystal is keeping you all cooped up eh!? Just mindlessly following Auron now, right? I mean, it's all you ever do right? Remember that chat we had back at the forest? I imagine you do!"

Sentry, never much the talkative type, simply gave the Golduck a cold stare as he looked up to view him. He turned back from the Golduck, and back to the Golurk. His interests weren't in him at the moment. "Fly away, Madman," He stated to the Pokemon above. "Today isn't your day to die. That comes later, in Gold City."

He chuckled as the bird flew around in a circle above him, "Oh? Aren't interested in what I found out from Scar hm? How after we pulled him away from the crystal's control and he can't remember a single little thing? How about that black cloud that floated in his mind and in Geneieve's mind? Hehe, but you have one too. I'll have to kill you though, I mean it's too late to try and pull you away you know. It's so like a... nightmare isn't it?" He grinned widely, "Let's say I've been consulting here and there. Scar's mind is sort of like that... like he had been in a dreamlike state. I wonder if killing Auron will pull that shadow out or you'll fall to the ground like the puppet you are?"

"Silver crystal..." Sentry said out loud, repeating Penance's words. He still looked upon the Golurk, before slowly shifting his eyes to the encircling Penance above. "...Black cloud...nightmare...Auron..." He methodically announced key words that Penance used. "As the rumors suggest, you have the information," Sentry shook his head. "But I wonder...would you like me to spoil to you how little you really know, or would you rather find out for yourself?" He inquired, staring right at the Golduck as he continued to encircled. "What, did you expect me not to know what you're talking about?" He asked rhetorically. "You have the pieces, but you have one crucial detail backwards. I am not the puppet here....Lord Auron is."

-------------

The night was cold so it was better to just stay in the tents and bundle up for warmth. Certainly the soldiers were doing that... but the Gold Tribe had been trained for such weather and how to survive in it. But had anyone taught them how to survive a crazy Abra? It seemed not as a Abra ported into Gallant's tent and sent out a surge of energy that knocked down multiple tents and threw the tent over Gallant far away. "Heyo! You ran out of time!" He shouted as he picked up Gallant with energy and threw him hard agianst a stone wall. He ported over and banged him against it again, "WHAT'S MY NAME!?" He screamed angrily.

"What the-" Gallant began as he was thrust about by the energy. Only moments ago, he was enjoying himself slowly be taken to sleep, but a second later, the crazy Abra teleported into his tent and went beserk. Gallant's first suspicion was an attack by the Silver Tribe, but not knowing any connections between an Abra and the Sentinels or Auron made him think it may have been something else. He quickly shot up and tried to handle the situation.

"What the hell is going on?!" He barked, to no one in particular, seeing the damage the little Abra had done. His injuries weren't fully healed from the battle, so his thursts to the wall especially hurt, even more so since they were done by a Psychic type. He positioned himself and flung his body at the small Abra with a Low Kick.

The Abra quickly ported away, appearing behind the Sawk and flew forward and slammed him against the ground. "YOU AREN'T EVEN TRYING!" He screamed, now tears starting to slowly flow out of his eyes, "DON'T YOU EVEN REMEMBER.... Gally?" He finished softly. He floated back and landed on the ground softly.

From the ground, Gallant grunted, prepared to try and make for another attack, but he was caught off guard by a name that he hadn't been called in a long time. "Gally..." He muttered, remembering the young Abra Gold Tribe recruit who used to call him that. He remembered he chewed him out for doing it too, but he had formed a pretty deep bond with that student, probably more so than most others. He was, after all, one of the youngest Gold Tribe recruits ever. They usually never accepted them at such an age to begin with. "You...Surge!" He exclaimed, realizing who was attacking. "How can this be? Where have you been all this time?"

The psychic got back up on his feet, and promptly turned around, crossing his arms angrily, "OH!? NOW you remember? You just...." He began to tear up a bit and whipped his tail angrily behind him. "You didn't even search for me! You just got new students! This and that! You like them do you!? I know you do! They're 'precious'." He shuddered at the word. "You never fixed me!"

Gallant shook his head, still in disbelief that this former student was before him. He hadn't seen him since before the war had started. "I haven't seen you since before the war, little one! I never forgot you, and you're wrong, we searched for you everywhere when you disappeared!" Despite him recognizing the Pokemon, Gallant remembered how volatile he could be, and decided to maintain his guard, in case he decided to explode on him. "After the accident...I searched, but I couldn't find you. I thought you had died. And so much happened after that! The war...Auron...you couldn't expect me in my old age to remember that right away!"

"SO I'M NOT IMPORTANT!?" He snapped angrily as he turned around, his eyes now opened and glowing a sinister purple hue. "THEN HOW COME MADMAN FOUND ME FIRST HUH!? YOU NEVER TRIED HARD ENOUGH!" More tears streaked down his face, "I said you would come... I always did... but you never did! He was right! You just forget about me! You didn't even care! You just ran off and got new students! You care about them too huh? Enough so that you'll leave them!? Broken anyone else!? I bet you have!"

Damn, Gallant thought initially, realizing that the Abra was with the Madman now, and therefore an Affiliate. It meant bad news, as he didn't know what to predict now. Gallant took a step back from the Abra, still in a battle position in case anything were to happen. "Surge, listen to me! I thought you were dead, and like any of my students I care for you. I always have. That is what the Gold Tribe means, after all! I didn't forget about you, but I had to move on! I had to train others. We as warriors don't get chances to grieve!" He yelled, trying to calm the Abra down.

"YOU DIDN'T EVEN FIND ME! HE SAID YOU WOULDN'T!" The Abra scramed right back at him, seemingly ignoring what Gallant was saying. "YOU LIED TO ME! IT WAS ALL LIES!" The nearby rubble still from the battle began to shake as the Abra's namesake power showed itself. The surges of power he routinely got began to push out, grabbing any nearby pieces of rubble and slowly began to lift them up. "YOU JUST LIE AND LIE AND LIE! GOLDIES LIE ALL THE TIME!"

When the Abra said 'he', Gallant had a pretty good idea who he meant."He?! He is a no good, dirty treacherous, insa-" Gallant was cut off as the Abra began lifting up the rubble, he assumed to toss it in his direction. Gallant began to scurry towards the Abra, hoping to subdue him before he began throwing them. If this escalated, he would likely need the other Gold Tribe member's help to stop him. Although he preferred to solve this on his own. He owed the Abra that much. Trying to bypass any rubble or energy that surged out, Gallant charged forward, intending to subdue, not harm.

The Abra rose up, "WE WAITED OUT THERE AND YOU NEVER EVEN BOTHERED! NO ONE DID! JUST WALKED ON BY!" The Abra gripped his head and let out a scream as the rubble shot out in all directions, not necessary to hit into anything but more along so he could release the built up of power he had. He floated in mid-air, sobbing quietly. "B-But he fixed me... let me think again... had the voices stop... you didn't."

Gallant was momentarily forced back by the large degree of rocks coming at him. He lifted his arms to cover his face and front body, trying to reach the Abra. "Surge, if I had any idea where you were, I would have come for you!" He yelled, stepped cautiously forward, avoiding what he can. He saw from his side vision two other Gold Tribe members, Dryad and Speculum heading toward the commotion, but Gallant held his hand out to motion him back. He wanted to try to get through the to the Abra before they got involved. "Let me help you, Surge. Remember the good times you had as my student?"

Surge looked up and glared at the Sawk, "But you broke me. Don't you remember?" He looked away, "I was broken... and he fixed me... not all of me, but he did a good job! He showed me a lot too... showed me truth and that you don't have to kill... that you don't have to be trained for war.... that gold can be bad."

"He didn't fix you!" Gallant said, getting more and more irritated by what the Madman had been doing of late. He wanted to strangle the Golduck, but he didn't want that anger to show now. "He's just using you! He hates the Gold Tribe and so he's manipulating anyone he can for his vendetta!" He eased up his pace to the Abra as Surge looked at him. "We don't train Pokemon for war. We train them for peace! We train them so that when someone cries out for help, there's someone there to help!"

The Abra rubbed at an eye, "He fixed me... I couldn't even lift but he made sure I could. He took me in." He turned away, "You never even bothered to guess my name." The Abra levitated up and began to float away, "Goldy isn't all it's cracked up to be."

"Surge..." Gallant called to him, remembering the times that Penance would ask the Gold Tribe to guess at the Abra's name. "I thought it was one of Penance's stupid jokes. You have to understand..." He trailed off his voice, not sure how to add what he wanted to add. "Don't follow him. He's a madman, just like his name implies."

"Yeah... and I'm mad too Gally..." The Abra floated away a bit more before porting away.

"Lighten up, would ya?" Vanni rumbled, grinning as he lightly shoved Hanso's shoulder with one hand. In the Machoke's other hand was a mug of some sort of drink. "We're still alive, after all, and soon we'll be marchin' on to Gold City an' wipin' the smug smirk offa Auron's face!"

Hanso merely shrugged, nursing his own mug. He wasn't sure why he'd grabbed one, since he wasn't going to drink anything besides water. Though if any of the food and drink was purposefully drugged, Hanso figured the food he'd already eaten would start its work sooner or later. Why the Affiliates would do anything like it, he didn't know. Maybe that was what bothered him the most. "Golduck's too manipulative to predict," Hanso muttered to himself.

"Say what?" Vanni stared at him oddly before shrugging. "Well, as I always sa--" He interrupted himself with a hiccup, which got Hanso to grin for the first time in a while. The Gallade watched as Vanni was dragged away by a few other Pokemon so they could all stagger back to their tents.

It was starting to get late, anyway. Hanso dropped his untouched mug on the booth's counter before walking away, heading back into the city. Checking the mental tracker he'd put on Vera, he noted that she wasn't moving from her spot. Need to check on Genevieve now...also need to pull Scar out of the tunnels.

In the shadows of the night, a Pokemon moved swiftly but quietly toward the Gallade he recognized. He wasn't wearing his emblem, but then again, he didn't wear the emblem in the forest either. It was his odd eyes he remembered. And at that he knew he had to confront him.

The Sneasel thief emerged from the shadows and blocked the path in front of Hanso. But it wasn't aggression he carried in his eyes, or at least that wasn't the primary emotion he displayed. He panted heavily, and on his face he carried an expression of fear and wear. He seemed to have been carrying it for a long time.

"You..." He said in between his pants. "You, yer...Gold Tribe right? I know...I remember you. You are."

The initial reaction was to slip into a battle pose, arm-blades springing out, but Hanso stopped himself as he saw the Sneasel's exhaustion. How did he know Hanso was Gold Tribe?... "Yes..." The Gallade sheathed his arm-blades as he relaxed. After a moment, he added, "I don't remember you, though."

The Sneasel continued to pant heavily, placing his paws on his knees to try to catch his breath. "I was in the forest. The Thieves Forest." He picked up a paw to reassure him he didn't mean violence right now. "I ain't here...to hurt ya," He puffed. "I...I dunno know where else...I dunno..." His voice trailed off, and a tear was spotted streaming down his face. "They killed us....they got us all. After you left....they got us!" He said, trying to hold back tears as he fell to the ground, slamming a fist onto the broken marble streets. "They killed Roswell, and everyone else they could get to...only a little escaped..."

Hanso had guessed something of the sort, during his confrontation with Varren inside Sovereign's head. The Thi-- Sneasel, was in no condition to fight him even if he wanted to. One hand reached up to rub his arm while Hanso listened. After they left... "I really doubt you're here to blame us," Hanso muttered to himself. Speaking louder, the Gallade stated, "The Silver Tribe double-crossed you, then." He didn't ask why the Sneasel had come here, why he'd shown himself to Hanso. The Thief would likely do so very soon, if not that very moment.

In an almost instantaneous moment, the Sneasel stopped his pounding and scurried over to the Gallade, grabbing him by the shoulders, shaking him while tears were in his eyes. "You...yer Gold Tribe. Yer suppose to help Pokemon when they get in trouble! We...we dunno what to do...we want to fight...we want to get payback, but we can't...we can't do it by ourselves." He looked to the side, remembering the slaughter he had witnessed as he ducked out of the forest with everyone he could. "Noctus left, he was gone for a while now...I think he went to Silver City...and the King's dead. Everyone's look at me, but I dunno what to do." He shook Hanso again. "Help us, will ya!?"

"Stop." Hanso's voice and hands were firm as he pushed the Sneasel back a step. "Stop freaking out." Yes, the Gold Tribe was supposed to help Pokemon in trouble, but not all members were like that, and normally a Gold Tribe fighter wouldn't readily help the Thieves. They'd be trying to get rid of the Thieves, in fact. Bringing Noctus up made Hanso clench one of his hands.

That was before the war, though. Hanso had to remember that the known living Gold Tribe was, for the most part, perhaps better than others before the war. Unclenching his fist, Hanso answered, "Yeah, we'll work together. ...I don't see it as a problem, but we should let the Gold Tribe know about this before all the Thieves show themselves."

The Sneasel was actually surprised that Hanso had said yes. He had come to the Gold Tribe as a last resort, as what he believed to be a foolish errand that would have ended up with him being thrown in jail. Letting go of the Gallade, he wiped away from tears from his arm, and let himself develop a small smile for a few seconds, before composing himself. "Right...right I gotcha. Jus...jus come find us when you decided. We want to help. After what Auron did, we deserve that chance." He backed away, moving over to let the Gallade pass. He began slowly heading for the exit of the city. "I'll let the others know. We're pretty tired and hungry but we'll be hangin' around the south outside of the city."

As he headed to leave, the thief turned back his head, adding before he left. "Hey...uh...thanks."

Hanso waved back. "I'll update you if something comes up," he replied, placing a mental tracker on the surface of the Sneasel's mind. A very mild itch that could be easily ignored, if the Thief noticed it at all. It wasn't until the Sneasel had left that Hanso realized he'd said 'let the Gold Tribe know'. Almost as if he wasn't one himself. He considered it, then came to a decision. For now...the medical bunker near Stoneguard.

When he showed up, Hanso stopped a passing Chansey. "There a store of food here?" The Chansey gave an affirmative. "Need to gather some of it that can be spared. Leave it in the south outside the city. Keep it quiet." When the nurse gave him a puzzled expression, Hanso added, "There are hungry Pokemon out there. I don't know if they're able to get any food for themselves, but they won't be coming into the city themselves."

Seeing the Chansey off, Hanso traced Genevieve's mind to where she lied on a bed, still unconscious. Vera's tracker still indicated inactivity, as well. Activity in the medical bunker had gone down in the past while, so Hanso didn't feel too guilty in pulling up a stool to sit on. I'll talk to Zane in the morning... His head propped on a hand as his elbow rested on a knee, Hanso fell asleep.

Accatosh made his move towards Cape City, Bloodthirster, soared to one of the generals to talk, Accatosh flew into the place he had left... then his mind jolted to alarm, Where was Paladin and Allora... he sighed, "you have got to be kidding me" then he took to the sky again. flying as high as he could... he didn't see anybody. worried he flew wherever he could, then he saw a Pidgeot and a Golduck circling over something, he started flying towards them.

when he got within range, he was shocked and angered at what he saw, "Sentry!" he shouted, he noticed Paladin was close to him. Angered Accatosh launched a Fireblast at the scizor, and started to dive towards him seeking to kill the pokemon who was messing with his former mentor.

The Scizor Sentinel reacted almost immediately as he heard the shout of his name from above, the source not being that of the Madman. Being the scout of the Sentinels and a Pokemon with intense reflexes, as well as possessing a wide range of his own intelligence networks allowed him to almost immediately identify the Salamence as one of the Gold Tribe members, Blitzkrieg. He picked up earlier information of ties between Paladin and Blitzkrieg, so he knew his arrival meant hostilities would follow, something Sentry didn't intend for at the moment.

As the Fire Blast came for him, he was seen bending his knees as the flames approached at him swiftly. He knew if he was caught by them, the damage would have been tremendous. But a moment later, the fire impact the area, but the Scizor no longer occupied it. In a blink of an eye, he vanished from the spot. He only seemed to reappear to the Pokemon present when he announced himself.

"As I said before," He stated, crouched with one knee on the ground on top of a ruined home, approximately 10 meters from where he stood before. "Today was not the day you were suppose to die," He looked back at the giant Golurk, who still seemed to be awakening. He would have to distract for a bit as he did. "But...if you wish it, then so be it,"

Sentry brought up his hands, the air around him beginning to pick up speed, until soon the wind was visible, and becoming increasingly lethal. The area of impact increased around him, and expanded into the sky, where Penance, the Pidgeot, and Blitzkrieg flew. The wind became like blades, sharp and lethal to everyone who flew within the range of the attack. He sent the Razor Wind at fully power toward the three.

Plains of Valkaria

"Hehehehehe...." The darkness of night surrounded the Sableye and Jolteon Sentinels, and from that darkness, the cackling laughter of another Pokemon could be heard. "Looks like the two of you have seen better days....hehehehehahahahaah!" The Pokemon emerged from its hiding spot, still covered by the dark of the night, a shadow covering most of its form, but his enormous, malicious grin. "Two Sentinels, licking their wounds! What a sight! I've heard the freelancer Sentinels were a lot tougher than this..." He cackled. As he examined them more, he noticed the condition of the Jolteon. "Oh? One of you not feeling too good? I think I have some medicine...but...OH! I left it in my other pants!" He yelled, bursting out into laughter on the ground below. He seemed to get immense enjoyment out of his own jokes, almost to an excessive state. As he tried to compose himself after almost a minute of laughing on the ground, the Pokemon rose himself, wiping the tears from his eyes, and approached the pair.

"But anyway...sorry, I forget myself," He got out from the cover of the darkness, revealing a pair of large, red eyes, and a shadowy form to keep his grin and eyes together. The Gengar gave the two a short bow. "Levin Gannon, Sentinel of the Silver Tribe, at your service." If it was possible, his grin seemed to widen even more, almost making it seem as if his form enlarged a bit with him.

As Snype continued to carry Levina back to Silver City with all his strength. Suddenly he heard some laughter nearby. Snype wasn't phased. He was a ghost himself after all. He stood firm though. He didn't need more problems after what went down today. A figure emerged from the shadows... friend or foe, he wasn't sure immediately. Snype was ready to fight to his last breath if he had to. Thankfully though, this Gengar was friendly. A sentinel of the Silver Tribe. Well, at least somebody wasn't dead...

The Gengar reminded Snype of himself. A huge case of shadenfreude for sure, laughing at others misery. Snype snickered a little at his jokes but he was too focused on Levina to get a good kick out of it.

"Deciever... not a bad name. Snype and Levina. And yeah we've seen better days. Kehe. Levina here's at the end of her rope if we don't heal her poison. I guess you have a good reason going out and fetching us two newbies huh?" He said with a serious tone. Levina shuddered a little bit, conserving her strength however she could. The Gengar spooked her a little.

"Hehehehe...." the Gengar cackled, his laughter trailing through the stream of grass and extending far through the countryside. "Yeah....I heard of the two of you! That's why I came to find you!" He rubbed his hands together, his mind already trailing to what was to come. "You two earned your reputations before you joined us, so we knew what we were getting before we recruited you! Hehehehehe...." He had a sack which he carried on his back, though the string seemed to blend with the colors of his body, so it was only when he turned it around to face them that it even became noticeable. He reached inside the bag, before picking out a few Pecha Berries and a handful of Sitrus Berries. He tossed the set of berries to the two, enough so that they would be able to recuperate and keep up. "There we are, enough to get you going....eat up! Hehehehehe...."

The Gengar maliciously grinned as he cross his arms and watched the two eat. "But you two aren't newbies anymore, you know! I mean, it's so sad!" He said, though his grin didn't disappear off his face when he said it. "All us Sentinels going six feet under! First it was the big guy Beserker. But then Noxious had to follow! Ignitus was blown up, Frosty got killed. Deluge got brain-fried. Inferno also blew up, and Scar and Genevieve are as good as dead too! Dead! Dead! Dead! Dead! DEAD!" He yelled into the night sky, shameless grinning as he did so. "And why do you think they're winning. We have the numbers, so what do they have? Hehehehehe!"

He started pacing, waving his hands around madly as he walked. "They have the Gold Tribe! And they have planning! We Sentinels are strong, but strength won't do it anymore! We need to plan! Sentry isn't around, so we're all that left. But...we're different from the rest, aren't we? Hehehehehehe....." He laughed. "HAHAHAHAHA!"

"So...how about it? Wanna graduate from the new guys to full-fledged Sentinels? Come with me, and we'll plan it out...and finish off the Gold Tribe and their little army for good! Hehehehe!"

Snype gave a sigh of relief. Looks like they had made a name for themselves. the Gengar clearly knew about them... best of all, he had pecha berries and some sitrus berries. Levina quickly squirmed out of Snype's arms and went right over to the Pecha berry to eat it up. The poison was quickly taken out of her system and the Sitrus berries she ate up also got the Jolteon back onto her feet. Snype also ate what he could. He needed a pick-me-up after the whole day. Levina thanked the Gengar for the Pecha berry, as out of character as it was for her to be so considerate. She almost died after all.

The Gengar went on about how they weren't newbies and discused the fate of the other sentinels. He discussed the issues that Snype had pondered about. There was a lack of strategy in the Silver Tribe. He could see that right away when Cape City was taken literally right under their feet.

"Kehe... of course I'd like to graduate. We gotta be doing something right if we're still alive. Alright then. Lets get right to it." Snype said. He wasn't very trusting of the Gengar yet. He had never met this sentinel before... was he new? Either way, Snype would be careful around the new face.

"So, what was your whole job in the sentinels? I didn't see you at the battle." Snype had to ask.

Accatosh barrelrolled infront of the wind headed towards Penance and the Pidgeot, he cast protect while he moved. most of the razor wind was reflected by his protect. "it may not be my day to die... but it IS my day to liberate my friend!"

Accatosh then took a moment to take in the terrain, being a forested area there were a lot of trees... might as well use falling trees to his advantage, he charged up a Draco Blast and released it. the large orb split into five smaller orbs and each impacted with a tree in the area, causing explosions and causing the trees to fall making a sort of perimeter around Paladin, but also attempting to get the Scizor distracted enough for Accatosh to strike, Accatosh then gaining speed charged right for a spot where he figured the traitor would run to for cover, he lowered his front talons ready to grab him and take him to the air.

"Hehehe...good!" The Gengar exclaimed excitedly. "I think we'll work well together!" He began skipping along the soft grass, his feet barely touching the green blades before jumping onto the next batch. In essence, he floated along the plains as he slowly prepared to move. When Levina and Snype were ready, they began to go to where they needed to.

"Hehehehe..." He chuckled, not necessarily as a laughter to the response of the question Snype asked. It was more of a quirk that he would do no matter what was asked of him. "You wouldn't have seen me. I lurk more in the shadows. I let the others do the heavy lifting. But I was here...oh...since the very beginning...hehehehehe..."

He began twirling his body in circles, floating just above the ground as he walked. "But every Sentinel has a specialty. Sentry does the scouting. Inferno blew Pokemon up. I liked to...entertain guests at the torturehouses...hehehehehe..." He grinned sheepishly at Snype, as he continued. "I mean, someone had to after Frost went and got herself gutted! She left a big hole to fill. Luckily, I was around." He placed a ghostly hand on his chin and pondered for a moment. "Hehe...let's see. You know how in the Alpha Alliance, there are 3 Generals who generally lead the armies? Well, you noticed they had General Belas, and you know they rescued General Hazone the Dragonite a while back. But where is poor General Catria?" He asked rhetorically. The third General he referred to was missing in action ever since the last defense of Gold City about six months ago. Many assumed she died, though Frost briefly confirmed to Belas in the battle in Eternity that she was alive and imprisoned in the torturehouse in Silver City.

"But since they're going to come to Silver City this time, I'll step out from my usual duties, and help us win this war. Hehehehe....and that's where you'll come in. Together, we can come up with some nice surprises waiting for the Alphas! Just you wait! HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Cape City

"Liberate your friend..." Sentry repeated the dragons word, a hint of mockery in his tongue as he said it. "If you think-" He was cut off, the sound of Blitzkrieg powering up another blast quickly resonated with Sentry, who picked up the blast schematics based on his reports he had heard of before. When he released the blast, it separated into smaller sorts, which took the Scizor by surprised, and also caused nearby branches to fall apart and collide onto the ground. Sentry lowered his knees and prepared to expect something else, but found that the entire point of this was to distract Sentry long enough for Blitzkrieg to swoop in and target the Sentinel.

He didn't expect much tactic to come from the Gold Tribe member, which made the move a bit of a surprise to Sentry. However and luckily, he was as fast as he was for a reason, and managed to narrowly duck as the large Salamence swooped in, ready to carry him away. Sentry ducked just low enough to barely avoid the talons, but as it passed over him, one of the claws scraped across the top of his red exoskeleton head, causing a deep scratch to form right at top. Blood trickled down from the tip, but Sentry did little more than grit his teeth for a second and take the pain. He responded quickly as the Salamence took off into the sky again, living up to his name as a swift Pokemon, and fired upon Blitzkrieg with a Flash Cannon while his back was turned to him.

With the explanation, the Gengar suddenly seemed more credible. He had the job Snype wished he could have had. Snype was more of a stealthy sort but was more direct then Deceiver. He was in the open to fight when he had to. He just made sure he was the one to land the first blow. He was a dirty fighter, relying on things such as Poison, stalling, and his environment to win a fight. Cheap tactics in other words. Honor was null to the Sableye as long as he came out the victor in the end and took what he wanted. It was something that made him very distant from his fellow thieves back then. He wondered if there were any survivors from that attack...

"So, a defense then. We do the usual for sure. Traps and such. But I'm sure its going to take more then a few cunning tricks to take down a whole army. I take you have plenty of ideas already since your being so forward with this?" Snype said. He never did get a chance to properly explore Silver City... he'd need to get himself familiar with the layout of the place to know where to hide and where to strike. He could poison them one by one and play mind tricks on the group. He had the moves to get away with that. They didn't have much time though. A day at the most. He was just eager to get into Silver City where he knew he'd be safe.

Accatosh grunted as a Flash Cannon hit him from the back, then he turned to the sentinel and saw the blood coming down his face, "is that the best you can do, Sentry? seems to me that the one knows as 'the fastest pokemon in the world' has lost his edge, Accatosh taunted.

Accatosh then circled around a few times before launching a series of fire blasts in a rapid pattern aiming to litter the ground with fire to limit the Sentinal's movements, once he did that he brought down a few more trees with a Draco Blast, in an attempt to box Sentry in... in essence trapping him.

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